BORN HULL 1893. KNOWN AS STANLEY WHITEHEAD. ONLY SON OF WILLIAM & MARY EMMA WHITEHEAD, AT 14 PEARL AVENUE, LORNE STREET, HULL. A LABOURER. HE ENLISTED IN THE 12TH EYR (3RD HULL PALS), IN HULL, ON 18/09/1914, AGED 21 YEARS AND 5 MONTHS. DESCRIBED AS 5 FOOT 6 INCHES TALL, 149 LBS WEIGHT, 38 INCH CHEST, BLUE EYES, BLACK HAIR, AND “GOOD” PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT. WHILE TRAINING AT THE DALTON HOLME CAMP, HE WAS CHARGED FOR NOT COMPLYING WITH A BATTALION ORDER, STATING A FALSEHOOD TO A NCO AND OVERSTAYING A PASS FOR A WEEK ON 11/10/1915. HIS 9 MONTHS COURT MARTIAL SENTENCE WAS SUSPENDED. HE LEFT DEVONPORT FOR PORT SAID IN EGYPT ON 28/12/1915. EMBARKED FOR FRANCE, ON 29/02/1916. ARRIVED AT MARSEILLES ON 08/03/1916. HIS SENTENCE WAS REMITTED FOR “EXEMPLARY BEHAVIOUR”. HE WAS KILLED IN ACTION, AT OPPY WOOD, ON 03/05/1917, AGED 24. HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE ARRAS MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING. UNMARRIED. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WENT TO HIS WIDOWED MOTHER. HE ALSO LEFT THREE SISTERS.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE STANLEY WHITEHEAD 12/396. Born in Hull in 1893, Stanley was the son of William and Emma Whitehead and had three sisters. He was 5ft 6in tall with blue eyes and black hair. He enlisted at City Hall on 18th September 1914 joining the 12th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 3rd Hull Pals, but the strictures of military discipline did not suit him from the start. His troubles began at the training camp at Dalton Holme when he was charged on two counts, not complying with a battalion order and stating a falsehood to an NCO. That was May 1915. In June he was charged with overstaying a pass until apprehended a few hours later. By October he appeared to have almost perfected going awol when he managed to overstay a pass by almost six days before being caught and fined seven days pay. After the Pals sailed for Egypt he ran into yet more trouble and was awarded nine months hard labour in Ballah January 1916. The sentence was suspended and later remitted for ‘Exemplary Behaviour’. It is perhaps darkly ironic given all those disappearances that Stanley was listed missing in action on 3rd May 1915 at Oppy Wood and his body was never recovered. The art of going awol was finally perfected by war itself. Stanley Whitehead is commemorated on the Arras Memorial; he was 24 years old.
